, 1887-11-16
THE MEXICAN HAMMOCK.
How It Is Made, and Attendant Peculiar
circumstances.

Circumstances.
'Snug pile of hammocks, isn't it?"
asked a down town importer of a re-
porter, pointing to a stack OF bales on the
sidewalk in front of his place.
"Yes, rather. What are they? Mexi-
can seagrass?"
''Sea nonsense! Hammocks are not
made of seagrass any more than floor
mating is. These are Mexican ham
mocks, but they are made from the fiber
of the heniqucn plant, a species of cac-
tus that flourishes in the state of Yucca
tan. All Mexican hammocks are made
there; and more hammocks are exported
from there than from any other place in
the world
GLOW are they nader" asked the re-
porter.
"They are made entirely by hand and
with primitive implements, continued
the dealer. "With a couple of straight
poles, a home made shuttle, a thin slab
of native zapoli wood, and n pile of heni-
quen leaves the Indian of Yucatan is pre-
pared to accept contracts for hammocks
by the piece, dozen or hundred. The
poles are placed a certain distance apart,
according to the length of the hammock
to be made. The thin slab of wood is
rapidly fashioned with the aid of a small
machette into a tonka or stripper. By
the aid of this tonkas the fiber of the
thick, fleshy heniquen leaf, which is q
species of cactus, is denuded of its cover
ing, and n wisp of hatchkill or rasped
fiber is the result.
1.-The hatchkill is bleached in tho sun
and then becomes soskil. These are then
separated into small heaps, containing
about the same number of fbers. When
the entire supply on hand is thus laid out
the operator takes up the fbers, and with
n dexterous roll between the palm of the
hand and the knee transforms them into
heavy cords or kuns, as the natives call
them.
"Out of this cord the hammocks are
made. The cord is wound around the
W. poles which ave been planted in the
ground and the work is turned over to
the women. They, with their wide shut
ties, accomplish the balance of the task
in n remarkably rapid and thorough man
ner. When a pile has accumulated the
contractor comes around and gathers
them up.
''The relations between the operator
and contractor are very peculiar, " said
the dealer, land would exist nowhere
else in the world. In order to get the
hammocks necessary for his trade the
contractor must often pay for them three
months in advance, as it is only when the
natives owe money that they will consent
to work. In order to get n chance to owe
this money the native will promise to
furnish the contractor, whom he knows,
with n number of hammocks at a certain
time if the contractor will advance him a
sum of money. On this money the en-
terprising native can live in idleness for
several months. The contractor agrees
to this. If he doesn't he can get no ham,
mocks. But once the native has bound
himself to supply the goods they will be
forthcoming at the time stipulated.
Should death intervene, his relatives per-
form the contract.
But this advance system is a sore drain
on the contractor, who is rarely a person
of large capital. lie must of necessity
accommodate the natives, and he needs
outside help to do so. This help he OBJ
tLins in the shape of advances from the
merchants in Merida, to whom he turns
over the hammocks he secures ut n CON
siderable advance over the amount they
have cost him. These Merida merchants
in u send the goods to their New York
correspondents.
The hammocks are carefully sorted in
Merida before they are baled for ship
ment to the United States, which absorbs
almost the entire production. Last year
it amounted to nearly $50, 900. All the
districts of Yucatan produce a greater or
lesser quantity of hammocks, but the
TiXcoco district is by far the largest pro-
ducer, sending out, il is calculated, every
year as many as the balance of the state
put together. The finest specimens Of
the hammock makers art, however,
come from ChemaX. But few of these
ever find their way to the United States.
They are SO eagerly sought after at home
that there Is no necessity for sending
them away, especially as good prices are
realized on the ground.
Hammock making in Yucatan is evil
IDENTIFY q very old art" concluded the
dealer. "NNhile OIL a visit there some
years ago l found hammock hooks and
beams in nearly all the ruins of the grand
prehistoric cities which lie buried in the
forests. OF their history and the history
of the races which peopled the sea cities
all trace has been lost, but the interesting
Little tlirtations which originate and are
carried On in the coy retreat of the ham,
mock of today l doubt not had their pho
totypes many hundreds, perhaps thous-
ands, of years ago in the forests of Yucca
tan, for evidently the Yucatanians Of
those days all swung in hammocks. -
New York Evening Sun.